3 ms·

What is the business model of free extensions like these? Is it all spyware/malware? It looks like many free extensions either have malware in them from the st

by TekMol 9y ago

What is the business model of free extensions like these? Is it all spyware/malware? It looks like many free extensions either have malware in them from the start or get sold to malware companies later on, who then deploy the malware via updates: http://lifehacker.com/many-browser-extensions-have-become-adware-or-malware-1505117457 http://lifehacker.com/many-browser-extensions-have-become-ad...

irrational 9y ago
Why does everything have to have a business model? Sometimes people like to create things for the sure enjoyment of creating things or they have an itch to scratch and think others might have the same need. Not everything is nefarious.
- Volt 9y ago
  Exactly for the reason they said. The concern isn't that extensions are necessarily nefarious, but that people often want something in return for their work, which might be money by whatever means.
eriknstr 9y ago
I recently found an interesting issue [1] filed in public on the GitHub repository of a fork of a popular extension. Here are archived versions of the URLs mentioned in the issue: Without "partner extension": http://archive.is/anu2E http://archive.is/anu2E With "partner extension": http://archive.is/bp93l http://archive.is/bp93l As is evident, what their "partner extension" does is in fact maliciously hijacking and replacing ad-space on websites visited by the user. Strangely, searching for their name among the issues on GitHub does not show other such results. I guess they usually make contact directly and that the person at that company who filed this issue did not realize it would be visible to the public. Here is the full text of the issue: > Adnow is interested in byuiing your extension traffic #1 > Dear Kyong Tsu, > My name is Anastasia, I am a manager from international advertising network Adnow. > Extension traffic is a hot trend nowadays, and we are interested in buying traffic from Facebook Video Downloader extension and the others. We are ready to share an idea of monetization extensions with you and give you a method. > We offer: > * high payouts > * 100% fill rate (we buy traffic from all over the world) > * Integration through JS Tag / XML / JSON feed > * Integration method > That's how the page looks without partner extension: https://gyazo.com/5d635a9dc7bdc142e18e6775a1d1340d https://gyazo.com/5d635a9dc7bdc142e18e6775a1d1340d > And that's how it looks for user with our plugin/code in extension: https://gyazo.com/a2b48b16d304a3ba37cdf6967fa4d9d8 https://gyazo.com/a2b48b16d304a3ba37cdf6967fa4d9d8 > Please contact me in case you are interested in monetization your extensions. > I am looking forward to your answer. > Thank you in advance. > Best regards, > -- > Anastasia Nova > Sales manager | Adnow LLP > e.: tasya@sales.adnow.com > Skype: tasya@adnow.com [1]: https://github.com/KyongTsu/TabMemorySaver/issues/1 https://github.com/KyongTsu/TabMemorySaver/issues/1 Archived snapshot of above issue: http://archive.is/Z5mJl http://archive.is/Z5mJl

by TekMol 9y ago

irrational 9y ago

Why does everything have to have a business model? Sometimes people like to create things for the sure enjoyment of creating things or they have an itch to scratch and think others might have the same need. Not everything is nefarious.

Volt 9y ago
Exactly for the reason they said. The concern isn't that extensions are necessarily nefarious, but that people often want something in return for their work, which might be money by whatever means.

eriknstr 9y ago

I recently found an interesting issue [1] filed in public on the GitHub repository of a fork of a popular extension. Here are archived versions of the URLs mentioned in the issue: Without "partner extension": http://archive.is/anu2E http://archive.is/anu2E With "partner extension": http://archive.is/bp93l http://archive.is/bp93l As is evident, what their "partner extension" does is in fact maliciously hijacking and replacing ad-space on websites visited by the user. Strangely, searching for their name among the issues on GitHub does not show other such results. I guess they usually make contact directly and that the person at that company who filed this issue did not realize it would be visible to the public. Here is the full text of the issue: > Adnow is interested in byuiing your extension traffic #1 > Dear Kyong Tsu, > My name is Anastasia, I am a manager from international advertising network Adnow. > Extension traffic is a hot trend nowadays, and we are interested in buying traffic from Facebook Video Downloader extension and the others. We are ready to share an idea of monetization extensions with you and give you a method. > We offer: > * high payouts > * 100% fill rate (we buy traffic from all over the world) > * Integration through JS Tag / XML / JSON feed > * Integration method > That's how the page looks without partner extension: https://gyazo.com/5d635a9dc7bdc142e18e6775a1d1340d https://gyazo.com/5d635a9dc7bdc142e18e6775a1d1340d > And that's how it looks for user with our plugin/code in extension: https://gyazo.com/a2b48b16d304a3ba37cdf6967fa4d9d8 https://gyazo.com/a2b48b16d304a3ba37cdf6967fa4d9d8 > Please contact me in case you are interested in monetization your extensions. > I am looking forward to your answer. > Thank you in advance. > Best regards, > -- > Anastasia Nova > Sales manager | Adnow LLP > e.: tasya@sales.adnow.com > Skype: tasya@adnow.com [1]: https://github.com/KyongTsu/TabMemorySaver/issues/1 https://github.com/KyongTsu/TabMemorySaver/issues/1 Archived snapshot of above issue: http://archive.is/Z5mJl http://archive.is/Z5mJl